Although diesel engines play an important role in the transport of goods and services nationwide, there is a growing concern about the health effects associated with exposure to diesel exhaust. Everyone is affected by diesel exhaust, especially those persons with heart or lung disease, asthma, or other respiratory problems aggravated by the minute particles in diesel exhaust. Unfortunately, there is a practice in some industries to keep diesel engines idling when they are not actively hauling loads. Such idling of diesel engines not only leads to the health effects discussed above but also causes pollution and excessive engine wear, poses health risks to drivers, and wastes fuel and money. An idling diesel engine can emit significant amounts of pollution including carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds, which contribute to the formation of ozone smog, poisonous carbon monoxide, and particulate matter.
In order to reduce the negative health and pollution effects of diesel engine idling, many states have passed anti-idling regulations. Vehicle idling restriction ordinances limit the amount of time that a diesel engine can be operated consecutively, and typically this time limit is three to five minutes. Thus, many states have legislated laws to ensure that diesel engines will be turned off when the vehicle is not in motion. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), being charged with overseeing compliance with the nation's environmental laws, strictly enforces these anti-idling laws and frequently assesses penalties on companies who do not meet their obligations. EPA required reduction in pollution; fuel consumption, cost, and improvement in health are therefore major concerns in the freight handling industry. Other agencies such as OSHA, EPA, DOE and CARB are also focused on the freight industry in regards to health, safety, air pollution and fuel consumption.
To date, general practices in the freight industry are aligning themselves with agency goals but further compliance is required to completely fulfill the agencies' mandated goals. For instance OSHA requires truck drivers to rest for periods of time after driving a period of time. The efficient operator will stop exactly where he or she is at the end of their allotted drive time, climb into their bunk and sleep with the truck idling to provide comfort while resting. The EPA legislation prevents this idling and DOE places pressure on operators to improve fuel mileage as well as reducing fuel consumption by more efficient use of resources.
Although various devices have become available to help the owner and operator comply with the anti-idling laws, most of them skirt the real intent of the legislation without truly eliminating the use of fossil fuels and thus continue to pollute the environment. A need therefore exists for a device that will completely comply with existing as well as future anti-idling regulations, including a heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC) and power system that has no harmful emissions and eliminates the use of fossil fuels. The system should be able to quickly and efficiently reduce fleet emissions, increase fuel mileage, and reduce fuel consumption thus bringing trucking companies into full compliance with agency requirements. The system should be designed to retro-fit older model vehicles, along with current and future model vehicles. What is needed is a simple, efficient, retro-fit compatible, stand-alone system that can be installed quickly and be capable of rapid replacement of components if necessary.